Electrical terminal connector



Oct. 18, 1960 R. H. CARTER 2,957,157

ELECTRICAL TERMINAL CONNECTOR Filed June 10, 1957 in Q II/l,

INVENTOR:

1210311217 15'. Emma.

ATTY.

rates ELECTRICAL TERMINAL CONNECTOR Richard H. Carter, Fostoria, Ohio, assignor to The Fosplrl' a orporation, Fostoria, Ohio, a corporation of Filed June 10, 1957, Ser. No. 664,612

7 Claims. (Cl. 339-50) This invention relates to a front loaded electrical terminal connector. More particularly, it deals with such a connector for pigtail type of wire terminals of electrical devices, such as for example the wire terminals of tubular infra-red lamps, which connectors may act also as supports for the ends of the tubular lamps, so that the lamps may be electrically connected and disconnected from the connectors on the same side or end of the connectors as the as the tubular lamps are inserted and removed from the connectors.

Previously such electrical connectors, sockets or lamp holders comprised insulating supports for the ends of the tubes, with holes through the supports for the pigtail wire terminals of the tubes to extend through for connection under the base or at the opposite ends or sides of the supports or sockets. Thus, in a bank of infra-red lamps held in a plurality of such sockets placed through and in the wall of an oven, it was diflicult in replacing a lamp in an oven, to find which pigtail wire terminal fastened at the base of such a socket on the outside of the oven, corresponded to that lamp inside the oven.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to produce a simple, effective, eflicient and economical front loaded electrical connector and lamp holder and supporting socket, which is particularly adapted to electrical devices having pigtail type wire terminals, such as infrared tubular lamps.

Another object of this invention is to produce such a combined lamp holder and electrical wire connector to and from which both the wire and the lamp may be easily and readily installed and removed respectively, by means of a single releasing operation, such as by a screwdriver or similar hand tool.

Another object is to produce such a connector of an insulating material which acts also as a support, and is manufactured of comparatively few standard, simple and/ or easy to produce parts.

Generally speaking, the electric terminal connector of this invention comprises a body of an electrical insulating material having an integral base thereon and a well, opening or socket in the body into which the elecrtical connection is made. The electrical conductive parts of the connector may comprise a plate which may be mounted on or at said insulated base, to which plate may be attached an electrical conductor leading to or from the connector. In the well or socket of the connector there is provided a screw or bolt which may have slotted head for a screw-driver and be threaded into the plate, by extending through an aperture in said base connecting the bottom of the well to said plate. Between the head of the screw or bolt and said plate or the bottom of the well or socket, there is sprung or bowed a resilient piece of electrically conductive material, such as a strip of brass, copper, or the like, which strip is bowed sufliciently by the clamping action of the bolt to press its bowed central portion outwardly against the side of the well or socket to clamp an electrical pigtail type of Wire terminal between it and said wall to make 2,957,157 Patented Oct. 18, 1960 the specific electric connection of the connector of this invention.

The top of the well or insulated body of the socket may be provided with a notch or similar means for engaging and supporting the end of the tubular lamp or device having the pigtail type terminal. Such notch may communicate through the body into the well or socket so that the electrical wire terminal of the lamp or device may extend directly into the socket without passing over the outer edges of the insulated body of the connector. The bolt extending from the upper end of the bowed strip through the bottom of the well or socket to the plate may also hold the plate against the bottom of the connector base or body and the bowed strip in the well or socket, so that no other means is needed to assemble the parts of the connector of this invention.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a pair of electrical terminal connectors according to an embodiment of this invention connected to and supporting a tubular type of infra-red lamp;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one of the connectors shown in Fig. l with part of the tubular lamp being broken away, but with its pigtail wire terminal electrically connected in said connector;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the connector taken along lines IIIIII of Fig. 2 or 4;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the connector taken at right angles to Fig. 3 along lines IV-IV of Fig. 2 or 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of just the electrically conductive parts of the connector as they would appear if they were assembled in the insulation body of the connector shown in Figs. 1 through 4.

Referring now to the specific embodiment of this in vention disclosed in the drawing, there is shown an electrically non-conductive or insulating prismatic shaped body member 10 having an integral rectangular base portion 11, which base may be sufficiently large to provide in a flanged side 12 thereof, space for apertures 13 through which bolts or screws (not shown) may extend for attaching the connector to a support. This non-conducting or insulating base material is preferably made of a rigid material, such as a hard plastic or a ceramic material. Within the prismatic body portion 10 of the insulating body is provided a well, aperture, or socket 15 which preferably extends the full length of the body portion 10 to the base member 11, the top of which base member 11 may form an integral bottom 16 for the well or socket 15. The shape of the Well 15 is shown to be rectangular, however, it is desirable that at least one wall 17 thereof be flat or of such a shape that it will form a good engaging surface against which an electric wire terminal may be firmly clamped. It is desirable that the bottom 16 of the well 15 communicate through an aperture 18 (see Fig. 3) in the base 11 with the bottom of the base 11, as a pasasgeway for an electrical connection between the socket or Well 15 and the outside or bottom of the base 11.

If the terminal connection of this invention is to be employed for connecting and supporting tubular type infra-red lamps, such as the lamp 20 shown in Fig. 1, there may be provided a notch 19 in the upper end and side Wall thereof into which a flattened end 21 of the' lamp 20 may be inserted and held so the upper top surface 22 of the body 10 of the connector may surround and protect the pigtail wire terminal 25 at the end of the lamp 20 (see Figs. 1 and 4). Thus, an electrical tubular lamp 20 may be supported between two similar terminal socket connectors 10 as shown in Fig. '1.

The electrically conductive parts for the terminal connector of this invention are shown assembled together in Fig. 5 as they would appear inside and on the insulated supporting body and its base 11 as described above. The bottom of the base 11 may be provided with a groove 31 into which a metal or electrically conductive plate 32 may be located, to which any type of an electrical corn nection may be made. This connection is shown herein to comprise a terminal 33 on an electrical wire 34 fastened by means of a screw 35 into a threaded hole 36 near one end of the plate 32. In order to provide room for the screw 35, an aperture 37 may be provided in the base 11 of the insulating body 16. At the other end of the plate 32 there may be another threaded hole 38 which may align with the aperture 18 into which may be threaded a bolt or screw 40 which extends substantially through the full depth of the well or socket from near the top or open end of the socket, at which end it is provided with its head 41 which may be polygonal and/or have a screwdriver type slot therein. Between the head 41 of the bolt 40 and the base 11 or the bottom 16 of the socket 15 there is a bowed strip 45 of electrical conducting resilient material which has apertures 46 and 47 near its opposite ends through which the bolt 40 extends. One and preferably the upper end of the strip 45 may have a [flanged portion 48 (as shown in Figs. '2, 3 and 5) for engagement with the wall 49 of the socket or well 15 opposite from the wall 17, so as to prevent rotation of the strip 45 when the bolt 40 is turned or screwed in and out of the hole 38 in the plate 32.

Thus, by screwing the bolt 40 into or out of the plate 32, the amount of bowing of the strip 45 will be respectively increased or decreased to clamp or unclamp the pigtail type Wire terminal 25 against the wall 17 in the socket 15. This clamping of the wire 25 in the socket 15 not only makes a good electrical connection therewith through the strip 45 and bolt 40 to the plate 32 and thence to the wire conductor 34, but also holds the end 21 of the lamp in the notch 19 and maintains the plate 32 clamped against the bottom of the base 11 in its groove 31.

A material advantage of this construction, besides being simple and effective, is that when a large number of such connectors are mounted on the inside of or through the walls of an electric oven or radiant heating surface, and when any one of the lamps 20 needs to be replaced, it may readily be done from the same or inside of the oven by means of a screwdriver loosening the bolt 40 adjacent the electrical connection for that lamp. Thus, there is no necessity of finding the terminal on the other or outside of the oven which corresponds to a given lamp, as was previously the case when the pigtails 25 extended on through an aperture such as 18 and were connected to a screw, such as screw 35, on the bottom of the base of the insulating body 10.

Although the embodiment disclosed herein shows the bolt 40 acting also as a means for holding the electrical parts together in the insulating body simultaneously with the connection of the wire terminal 25, the well 15 may, if desired, extend completely through the base 11 and separate means (not shown) may be provided, such as cementing the screw 35 and/or strip 32 to the bottom of the base of the body 10, so that the lower end of the strip 25 having the aperture 47 may rest directly against the plate 32.

While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to this invention, since the front loaded connector of this invention is also applicable for other types of electrical devices having pigtail type wire terminals.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric heating element having a flexible pigtail type wire terminal, a supporting connector for said element and said terminal, said connector comprising: a body of ceramic material, an opening through said body, an electrical conductor plate at one end of said body, an electrical conductor attached to said plate, an electrically conductive bolt extending through said opening and screwed into said plate from the other side of said body, and an electrically conductive resiliently bowed strip having its ends clamped between the head of said bolt and said plate to bow said strip against a side of said opening to clamp said pigtail type wire terminal in said opening whereby screwing the bolt away from said plate moves the bowed portion of said strip away from said side to feed said pigtail type terminal.

2. An electrical socket connector comprising: a body of electrical insulating material having a base and an opening through said body and said base, a side wall in said opening, an electrical conductor plate adjacent and in contact with said base, an electrical conductor attached to said plate, a bolt having a head extending through said opening and screwed into said plate, a single electrical conductive resilient bowed strip cooperating with said side wall and having its ends clamped between said head of said bolt and said base, whereby screwing said bolt in one direction moves the bowed portion of said strip away from said side wall providing a clearance for the insertion of an electrical conductor between said strip and said side wall, and whereby screwing said bolt in the other direction moves the bowed portion of said strip toward said side wall to clamp said conductor against said side wall and hold it in said opening and make an electrical connection therewith.

3. A connector according to claim 2 wherein said bowed strip is provided with flange means for co-operation with a wall of said opening to prevent rotation of said strip in said opening when said bolt is rotated.

4. A connector according to claim 2 wherein said insulating body includes means for supporting an electrical device having a pigtail type of electric wire terminal which is clamped in said opening.

5. A connector according to claim 2 wherein said one side wall and said bowed portion of said strip have flat cooperating surfaces.

6. An electrical connector and socket, for receiving a flexible pigtail type of terminal wire, comprising: a body of an electrical insulating material having a base; a well in said body having a side wall; an aperture from the bottom of said well through said base; an electrical conductor plate against the bottom of said base; an electrical conductor attached to said plate; an electrically conductive bolt having a head, accessible from the direction from which said flexible terminal wire is introduced into said connector and socket, extending from near the top of said well through said aperture and screwed to said plate; and an electrically conductive resilient strip, bowed between its ends, clamped between said head of said bolt and the bottom of said well, with the bowed portion cooperating with said side wall of said well, whereby screwing said bolt in one direction moves said bowed portion away from said one side wall providing a clearance, into which said clearance may be introduced said flexible pigtail type terminal wire; and whereby screwing said bolt in the other direction moves said bowed portion to clamp said flexible pigtail type terminal wire between said conductive resilient strip and said one side wall of said well.

7. A front loaded and front accessible electrical socket and connector means comprising: a body of rigid electrical insulating material; a base on said body; a well in said body having at least two side walls and a hole through said base communicating with the bottom of said well; a notch in the upper end of said body communicating with said well for supporting and aligning the end of an electrical device having a flexible pigtail type of terminal wire which extends into said well; a bowed resilient electrically conductive clamping strip mounted in said well and having its bowed portion cooperating with one of said side walls of said well; a flange at one end of said strip having the flat surface provided by said flange bearing slidably on the other of said side walls of said well; a fiat threaded plate mounted under and against said base; an electrical conductor connected to said plate; a bolt having a head extending from the upper end of said well, through the ends of said bowed strip in said well, and through said hole in said base to fasten into said plate; whereby turning said head of said bolt bows said strip from a position free of said one wall of said well to a posit-ion to clamp said flexible pigtail type terminal wire against said one side wall of said well, and whereby said bolt holds the electrical conductive members assembled in said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Malaby Sept. 22, Thompson 1. Nov. 17, Koch May 10, Cartun July 21, Del Camp Oct. 7, Sullivan Nov. 30, Pistey Jan. 3,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 16, France May 31, 

